I think 13 became an unlucky number for this series of posts. The last post in this series came in October 2009 (That’s awfully long for a series of posts). But i was so determined to post number 13 and interestingly i have chosen a very different movie for Number 13. Check it out.

Muhammad Bin Tughluq (1971)

Can you name a person in Tamil Nadu who can make a brutal, extremely sarcastic and honest political satire movie?I think there is only one person who made it and even got away with in flying colors (black and white??!)
Cho Ramaswamy, fondly called as Cho is a political analyst, a Tamil Political Magazine Editor and a writer. A lesser known fact is that he started as a playwright and a stage actor. Even his entre into stage was accidental as he puts it. He made his foray in to movies too and he was an instant success. His best movie and play is Muhammad Bin Tughluq (1971), which I would consider arguably the best political satire in India. Don’t ask me how many have come.

Muhammad Bin Tughluq was originally a play written by Cho in 1968 and staged by his troupe Viveka Arts many a times. The same group of people to make the successful play in to a movie in 1971.
Rangachari (Rajagopal aka Ambi) is a well known archeologist, who is on a mission to find the remains of Muhammad Bin Tughluq and identify his real cause of death. Once during the mission, he finds Tughluq (Cho) and Ibn Battuta (Peeli Sivam) alive. They claim that they were alive because of an secret herb. Tughluq enters back to the country with fanfare. Understands the political scene overnight. Participates in elections, becomes the prime minister in his own ridiculous way. Makes some innocuous decisions. But the mystery unravels slowly where Cho and Peeli Sivam are college students who wanted to change the way democracy is being misused in the country. They with the help of their guru impersonate as Tughluq and Battuta to make people understand the real value of democracy. On the day of revealing, the intoxication of power gets in to Cho’s head and he plots the killing of his friend by creating riot against him to stay as prime minister. The cast included Cho, Peeli Sivam, Ambi, Neelu, Manorama, music was scored by MS Viswanathan, produced by Alliance Productions and the story, dialogues and direction were handled by Cho himself.

Why it is so special?

1. The movie from start to end never deviates from the satirical mode and it crticised every decision made by the then governments. The decisions of Cho as Tughlaq has became a reality in later stages of Indian politics – like where he makes all the MPs as deputy PMs – Meghalaya’s 4 CMs? He makes one language for each state as the official language and even suggests Persian as the official language of India. The buying out of MPs, state sponsored riots what not. Although you tend to laugh at the movie, after a particular point in the movie we are hit with the reality of the country we are living in.

2. The sharp dialogues which makes you laugh and think at the same time. Actually if you watch it carefully, the best satirical ones are not given Cho or Peeli Sivam but the supporting cast of Ambi, Neelu and Manorama.

3. The apt cast and most of the actors are from the stage which made them natural. I think Manorama was the only one casted from the cine world and she was brilliant as the “kolgai parappu Seyalalar” (PR) of Tughluq. Casting the stage actors had it’s own flaw of making the movie a more like a drama but it can be overlooked for the brilliance of the movie.

4. For the man by the name “Cho” – the concept and the dialogues – he was just unmatchable. His dialogue deliveries and the slight jump he makes when he walks, lovely. He never smiles in the whole movie and you know how serious were his stupid decisions. He is matched  for every scene by Peeli Sivam as Ibn Battuta – nobody could have done the roles better than them. Cho scores in the final scene when power takes over him and his psychic acting proved that he is better actor than what he is remembered for.

Why it is in the list?

1. Arguably the best political satire to make it to the Indian screens and definitely the most honest portrayal.

2. The relevance of the plot even today. If you watch it tomorrow, you will relate to the current political situation and have a wry smile at the plight of common people like us

3. For the sheer brilliance of Cho and Peeli Sivam

Trivia

1. The drama troupe of Cho was named as Viveka fine arts because they were all graduated from Vivekananda college in Chennai

2. The movie was portrayed as against Muslim community by some political parties but when they saw the movie, they found it is nothing to do with the community. In fact the title song on Allah and sung by MSV is still revered as one of the best songs written in Tamil on Allah.

3. Due to the success of the movie, Cho named his political magazine as Tughluq and it was his another spat with DMK that Thugluq’s circulation went up. I will write about it later.

4. Ambi who acts as Rangachari in the movie and the convener of the drama troupe is the own brother of Cho

5. I think the stage play was in production till 2007 ( am not sure) but  could not continue because of the age factor of Cho. I dunno whether they do special shows. I do have a DVD of the stage play.

6. His famous plays include Judgement Reserved, Sambavami Yuge Yuge, Unmaiye un Vilai Yenna, Iraivan Iranthuvittana and many more. His book Enge Brahamanan ?, one of the definitive literary piece about Brahminism was serialized for Jaya TV recently. The second part is currently running.

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I didn’t like Aadhavan and I gave a critical review of the movie. The critical review started immediately after the movie and my friends were crticising me that I am expecting too much from a masala movie.

Chinmaya, my friend asked over a Chicken in KFC, “So tell me which is a perfect masala”. I immediately sprung up and said ” Enga Veetu Pillai”. He snubbed and said ” the MGR movie? That’s a old one man”. I just smiled and said ” Absolutely no. Take any double action movie in any language barring a few exceptions like Vaali, you will have the same storyline as that movie. Even the re-runs of “Enga Veetu Pillai” made more money than the so called masalas of recent times”

I don’t hate masala movies in fact I love them because it depicts the true Indian movie style. A perfect masala should be enjoyable and should not be boring at any point of time. Glorifying Heroes – perfectly fine as long as the hero is Rajini and not Vishal. So here comes the mother of all masala Tamil movie of all times – “Enga Veetu Pillai”

Enga Veetu Pillai (1965)

Enga Veetu Pillai is a remake of Ramadu Bheemadu, a Telegu Movie starring NT Ramarao (Doh, why a remake in the list? There is a difference). Nagi Reddy, the famous Telugu film producer and the owner of Vijaya Productions makes this movie in Telugu and as it became a good hit, he remade this movie with minor changes to suit MG Ramachandran’s image in Tamil. It became a blockbuster in Tamil and still remembered.

Incidentally, the original is not a original too as it borrowed the storyline from Alexander Dumas’ Corsican Brothers. The story is about twin brothers Ramu and Ilango (MGR) separated in birth due to a family problem. Ramu, grown as innocent and spineless by his uncle, Narendran (MN Nambiar), who is also his Sister’s (Pandari Bai) husband. Narendran is waiting for Ramu’s 25th birthday in order to swindle the family property as written in the will of Ramu’s father. Ilango on the other hand is a spendthrift and happy go-lucky guy lives with his step-mom ( later revealed).

Leela ( Saroja Devi) initially chosen as the bride for Ramu dislikes him as she finds him cowardly but later meets Ilango, mistakes him to be Ramu and unknowingly helps him to swap places with Ramu in Narendran’s house. Ilango realizing the plight of people inthe house, stays there and teaches a lesson to Narendran. Ramu on the other hand lives peacefully at Ilango’s house and falls in love with a village girl. The confusions and mix-ups dominate the movie unroll everyone finds the past and all ends well.

The movie was directed by Tapi Chanakya with Music from MS Viswanathan – Ramamurthy and produced by Nagi Reddy under Vijaya Productions Banner. The cast includes MGR, Saroja Devi, Pandari Bai, MN Nambiar, SV Rangarao, Nagesh and Thangavelu.

Why it is so Special?

1. As I said it’s the perfect masala movie with all the aspects of Indian movie style rightly placed in the right measure in a perfect way. Glorious music, hilarious comic scenes, well-made action sequences with the right dose of sentimental scenes

2. The music of the movie is still revered. Kumari Pennin Ullathile, Naan Maan Thoppil are classics and of course the best hero worship ever made “Naan Aanai Ittal”. The song is so perfectly choreographed for the lyrics of Vaali. The picture of MGR with the whip and hands spread is a long lasting image of Tamil Cinema

3. The comic scenes of Thangavelu, Nagesh, SV Rangarao and MGR. Nagesh, as stammering assistant of MGR was in his own self and Thangavelu as the assistant of Nambiar were equally hilarious. The facial expression of Thangavelu when Ilango hits Narendran for the first time shows it all

4. If the supporting cast especially Saroja Devi and Pandari Bai were awesome, Nambiar as the evil uncle was fantabulous. I always believe that Villain has to be strong, because the people will love it only when the Hero prevails over the strongest evil. I think Nambiar would have been the most hated villain of all times.In this movie, he even hits MGR with the whip during the  initial scenes and I dunno how people would have reacted in Theatres

5. MGR, the man. In fact this movie also gave him space to act, as the cowardly Ramu he scores full marks and Ilango is his usual charactersation which you see in most of his movies. I can only reiterate one fact – he is the best brand manager I have ever known. He knew how to engineer success and follow it up with huge success in political life too

Watch the video from 16.55 Minute for “Naan Aanaiyittal Song”

Why this is in the list?

1. One of the biggest trend setters in Tamil Movies. I can’t count the number of movies taken with the same story line. From the trash copy called Vani Rani (which even has a similar whipping scene like the one in Enga Veetu Pillai) to one of the recent hits of Surya – Vel, all the double action movies have been made with Enga Veetu Pillai in mind.

2. One of the biggest blockbusters in Tamil cinema and continues to be a hit even on reruns.

3. As I said, the perfect masala movie of all times which has all the ingredients rightly mixed in apt proportions

Trivia

1. Ramadu Bheemadu was released in 1964 and there was a Hindi remake of the same movie called Ram Aur Shyam with Dilip Kumar (!!! I dunno how he would suited such a storyline). It didn’t do well at the box office. All the movies were directed and produced by the same team of Tapi and Nagi Reddy

2. “Naan Aanaiyittal” was originally written as ” Naan Arasan Yendral, Naan Aandu vittal” but MGR made Vaali to change the lyrics to the current version as he felt it would the sentiments of DMK leaders. Eventually he came out of DMK to start ADMK and as they say the rest is history. Even ADMK uses the song for every election campaign

3. The song became so famous that there was a movie released as Naan Aanaiyital in 1966 with MGR in the lead.

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The Tamil history is full of legends, interesting anecdotes and wonderful heroic stories. But the number of historical movies and Historical fictions is very minimal. The ones which came are either skewed or executed in the worst possible way. I think there will be only two movies in this genre.in my list. The one which I consider the perfect movie in Tamil, didn’t do well in the box office  too.. (it will be featured in the later part of the series)

During the 50s and 60s, there were lot of historicals featuring the freedom fighters from Tamil Nadu. Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Sivagangai Seemai, Raja Desingu were some of them and worst of all came in 1973 – Raja Raja Chozhan. The problem with all the historical movies were it gives you an skewed perspective and not the true history. All movies tried to glorify the lead characters rather than giving out the true to life depictions. I think that’s were Chinese and Hollywood movies score a point.

Kappalotiya Thamizhan

One historical which came close to be a true depiction was Kappalotiya Thamizhan, a biopic depicting the life V.O. Chidambaram, who fought an economic and business based war against the British. I said came close, because they had a lot of extra fictitious characters who may or may not have lived.

V.O.Chidambaram Pillai aka VOC ( Sivaji Ganesan) is an ardent nationalist and owner of a salt factory. On seeing that, Indians are discriminated in the ports and not allowed to export through ships, he starts the Swadeshi  Steam Navigation Company ( and hence the name Kappalotiya Thamizhan). As the British see the economic war, more dangerous than the ahimsa war, they confiscate VOC’s company and put him in jail. The movie depicts the struggle VOC went through in the jail and he writing his autobiography etc.

The movie not only focuses on VOC but also his interactions with the revolutionary Tamil poets Bharathiyar (a memorable performance by SV Subbaiah), Subramania Siva (TS Shanmugam) and other national leaders. It also depicts the other important moments of independence happened at that time, like the Vanchinathan – Collector Ash incident (K.Balaji as Vanchinathan was fantastic).

I could not understand the characterizations of Madasami and his wife ( Gemini Ganesh and Savithri) because there are no references of them in the history. They get a considerable screen presence and I think they were included to provide the lighter moments of a very tight serious drama. Madasami acts as the only link between Vanchinathan and VOC, who otherwise had not met in the history. Most of the websites claim that Gemini Ganesh was Vanchinathan and of course it is not true.

The movie was directed by BR Panthulu with Sivaji Ganesan, Rukmini, Gemini Ganesh, Savithri, SV Subbaiah, TS Shanmugam, K. Balaji as actors. The music was done by G Ramanathan and produced by Padmini Pictures.

Why it is so Special?

1. The memorable acting of Sivaji. Although people remember him as Kattabomman and Karnan, he himself loves VOC more than anything else. In every interview, he claims that this was the toughest and the most favorite of all. And you will know it only when you see it.

2. The supporting cast was equally awesome too. The court scene were SV Subbaiah counters the British lawyer and the collector office scene of TS Shanmugam bears testimony to their talent. Although subdued, Rukmini as VOC’s wife was wonderful.

3. The music and the lyrics. All the songs in the movie was from Bharathiyar’s poems. Only a few movies have all the songs written by Bharathi. The other two that I can remember now – Ezhavathu Manithan and Bharathi ( the autobiography). It was G.Ramanathan’s best (Kaatru Veliyidai Kannamma and Yendru Thaniyum indha Sudandhira Thagam are masterpieces still remembered)

4. A true biographical account well taken and rightly screen played.

Why it is in the list?

1. The historical movies of those times were totally skewed. Veera Pandiya Kattabomman ( incidentally made by BR Pantulu) and Sivagangai Seemai were one of the most skewed historical depictions. Although this movie had a lot of extra characters added, it was true to life when it came to VOC. They even skip the few years before his death, because they could not get enough information about that part of his life.

2. One of the best when it comes to historical biographies in Tamil Movies.

3. For Sivaji Ganesan – once again.

Trivia

1. Although a good movie, it ran only for a week when it was released for the first time even after giving a tax exemption. It did well in the sub-sequent reruns.

2. VOC is the most favourite role of Sivaji Ganesan and he reportedly said that he had difficult time doing it.

3. SS Gallia and SS Lawoe are the two ships bought by VOC to start his Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company

4. Padmini Pictures was the production company of BR Panthulu and produced famous blockbusters like Veerapandiya Kattabomman, Karnan, Kalyanam Panniyum Brahmachari. The last recorded movie produced by them was  Rahasiya Police 115 in 1968.

For more info about VOC and the movie peek in to the following link. This link has wonderful info about famous Tamils.

http://www.tamilnation.org/hundredtamils/voc.htm

PS: Its pity that his family is in road side now. Do we really respect the families which sacrificed for our country?

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Romantic Comedies are a rarity in Tamil Cinema. I believe a perfect Romantic Comedy should have the right proportions of both. How many Tamil movies you have seen with both of these coming in right proportions. I have decided to showcase two romantic comedies in the 40s-70s era which were trend setters for the future. Theses two movies have been diligently (shamelessly) reproduced by some of the later directors with some changes and still became superhits.

Rom Coms can be made in two different ways – one which will have only two lead characters, the story traverses through them and the situations they encounter. And the other type of story, depict more than one couple, their problems and the inter twining of situations etc. The first movie which I am going to show case is of the first genre.

Anbe Vaa (1966)

Anbe Vaa was the start of all those romantic movies where the boy meets girl. They start fighting. Fall in love but never want to express. Relationship ends with a rift. Atlast they reconcile and love triumphs.

I am not kidding but i think 99% of the love stories in Tamil Cinema followed this trend and most of them succeeded. The latest one being Siva Manasula Sakthi, which was a hit too.

Anbe Vaa was loosely based on 1961 Hollywood Comedy “Come September”. JB (MGR) is a very successful businessman fed up and stressed out with his monotonous life wants to take a break in his summer bungalow in Shimla. When he arrives, he finds that his manager’s brother in law (Nagesh) had made the place in to a summer resort and making Money from tourists. He meets Latha (Saroja Devi) and finds her attractive so he joins the band of tourists for a rent in his house. Only his manager’s daughter (Manorama) knows that he is the owner but he silences her to have fun. JB acts as a Balu, a normal salaried guy.

JB and Latha gets in to small cat fights each trying to pull others leg with practical jokes. They eventually fall in love but never want to express each other. Latha thinks even JB’s love is a practical joke. Enters Asokan, a Pilot, Maternal uncle of Latha and a long time friend of JB. He alsi joins the bandwagon of JB’s acting. Tired of JBs practical jokes, Latha decides to marry her uncle. But he finds the love between her and JB, unites them. When JB reveals his true identity before the marriage, Latha thinks it’s yet another practical joke from JB but all end’s well in the climax.

The cast includes MG Ramachandran, Saroja Devi, Asokan, Nagesh, Manorama, TR Ramachandran and so on. The movie was directed by AC Thirulogachander, produced by AVM and music by MS Viswanathan.

What’s so special about the Movie?

1. The story in itself. Nobody even thought of having a 3 Hr movie with only two lead characters fighting at each other would make a good screen play. The screen play was so wonderful that it never lagged a bit.

2. The music – I think this movie’s album was one of the best ever to come in Tamil Cinema. The dream combo of MS Viswanathan – Vaali was nothing short of greatness. Pudhiya Vaanam Pudhiya Bhoomi, Rajavin Paarvai, Love Birds Love Birds, Anbe Vaa, a western based Nadodi (was it a copy?), Once a papa met a Mama (Baila) and above all Naan Parthathile Aval Oruthiyaithan Were memorable hits. (Actually once when I sang Naan Parthathile in my college, I had a roaring applause at the start of the song – that’s the level it had reached even in the hearts of younger generation)

3. MGR was a action hero and he was known for his complete masala entertainers. He was courageous enough to take such a role and the producers were brave enough to cast him.

Why it is in the list?

1. Simply because it was a trend setter. Nobody can count the number of movies inspired by Anbe Vaa. It gave the directors and producers the confidence that rom coms can make money too (Not just money but big money)

2. For the music, screen play and MGRs acting. Anyways the producers did compromise something for MGR, they had to add a fight sequence as they didn’t want to take MGR movie without a fight. They were prudent enough because few producers had lost quite some money by not compromising for MGRs star power.

Trivia

1. AVM had this wonderful team of in house script writers who can turn any language movie in to a Tamil script. As Anbe Vaa was a rehash of Come September, the other movies from their production house were mostly based on other language movies. Jaavert Seetharaman was considered to be a expert in converting scripts to suit the Tamil audiences.

2. Anbe Vaa was the first script made by AVM to suit a star actor. They usually choose the actor based on the script made.

3. Although the story takes place in Shimla, 95% of the movie was shot in Ooty. Only the introductory song of MGR was shot in Shimla to authenticate that the movie takes place in Shimla.

4.Anbe Vaa was the first complete color movie produced by AVM

5.Naan Parthathile was one of the few songs shot in outdoor with MGR as he avoids the public shooting due to the huge fan following he had and he never used to learn dance in front of the public in order to maintain his image.

6. During those days, the release of the lyrics as a book was popular. AVM released the Anbe Vaa lyric book like a LB Record, which was even sold in black for higher prices.

7. Anbe Vaa ran for 23 weeks and it’s one of the biggest blockbusters for AVM. MGR demanded a salary of 3.25 Lakhs for the movie ( do your inflation calculations)

PS: All the trivia about AVM are credited to the book by M.Saravanan, “AVM 60 Cinema”

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The early Tamil movies had a right mix of movies. There were masala action as there were socio-political movies, there were fairy tales as there were historical fictions. I think one of the most entertaining of all were the stories based on Hindu Gods and mythical characters. Don’t rate the yesteryear mythical classics with the new age graphical so called “Godly” movies. The way the modern movie directors showing Gods is something they should be ashamed of.

Thiruvilayadal (1965)

The first movie that comes to any one’s mind when thinking about mythical movies is Thiruvilayadal. Thiruvilayadal is an excerpt of 4 stories from the 64 stories, which tells the greatness of the Hindu God Shiva. Lord Shiva according to South Indian beliefs has two sons, Vinayagar ( Ganesh in North India) and Muruga (lesser known in the North with the name Karthik). Murugan fights with his parents as they give the divine fruit to the clever elder son and Murugan goes to the Palani Hills relinquishing all his virtues and luxuries. Different people try to convince him and atlast his mother Parvathy explains the various godly miracles of his father Lord Shiva.

The four episodes include the encounter with Nakkeeran, the poet in the Pandya Kingdom, the rift between Patvathi and Sivan – Parvathi being born as a fisher woman. The story of the over-proud singer and Sivan teaching him a lesson as a wood cutter.

Sivaji Ganesan, Savithri, Muthuraman, Nagesh, Manorama, TS Balaiah were few of the huge star cast it had. The music was composed by the legendary KV Mahadevan and the movie was directed by AP Nagarajan.

Why it’s so special?

I think this is the best mythical movie ever to be made in Tamil. I don’t think somebody could make a better one than this. Even AP Nagarajan tried to emulate it and never succeeded in the process.

The movie had everything to make it as the best myth movie. The grandeur, scintillating music, perfect portrayals of actors (right casting) and the choice of the episodes.

The dharumi character of Nagesh, his encounter with Sivaji Ganesan as Lord Shiva is arguably one of the best comic scenes to be made in Tamil Cinema. I never understood the fact of how all the mythical characters and historical characters suit Sivaji so well. He fits in to the role of Lord Siva lika a perfect T.

The most important reason for the success of the movie was the music. Pazham Neeyappa by KB Sundarambal, Oru Naal Pothuma by Balamurali Krishna, Isai Tamil nee Seitha Arut Sadanai and Paatum Naane by TM Soundarajan are fantastic renderings still ringing in the ears of music buffs. The flawless screen play by AP Nagarajan makes this movie a must watch.

Why it makes to the list?

1.Myth is the part and parcel of life in India. Movies are not an exception. I could not think a better movie than this to list in this genre.

2.Do I need one more reason?

Trivia

1. The Dharumi character was not present in the movie originally. Nagesh was so very popular in those years that it was a crime not having in the movie. The director had to create a character to accomodate Nagesh in to the movie. It was said that the Dharumi character was based on a person called Krishnaswamy iyer.  It seems he was found in the banks of Mylapore Tank repenting about his poverty.

2. Krishnangoyal Venkatachalam Bhagavathar Mahadevan aka KV Mahadevan was born in Nagarcoil in 1917. He was working with HMV for few years and later turned towards music composing. His first movie was Avan Amaran and he was one of the most sought after music directors in his prime. His famous hits include Sankarabharanam, Konjum Salangai, Vasantha Maligai along with Thiruvilayadal. He had composed more than 600 movies in different Indian. A legendary music director. How can we forget Singaravelane Vaarai and Yaarukaga…

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The world knows Indian movies as wholesome entertainers with songs, dance, action sequences, sentiments and comedy packages. The trend of such entertainment packages or masalas as it is rightly called was originally started by a spectacular production company called ” Modern Theatres”.

Modern Theatres, a big wig production company from small town, Salem owned by TR Sundaram had only one aim – wholesome entertainment with the right dose of action, comedy, cheap thrills and glamour.

Vaduvur Duraisamy Iyengar is the first pulp fiction novelist in Tamil. Karunguil kundrathur Kolai was the first pulp fiction novel. He created a sage detective, who solves crimes through his innovative ways. He used this detective in a series of novels.

So what happens when a big wig movie production house and a pulp fiction author join hands, you get an absolute masala movie which became a fore runner to many such masala movies of the future.

Digambara Saamiyar (1950)

The story is about a evil lawyer, Sattanadha Pillai, who tries to get his usless brother, Masilamani married to a poor lady, Vadivambal. The evil lawyer is corrupt and does all his crimes partnering with a sub-judge by the name iyer. Vadivambal is in love with Kannappa.The lawyer who is a master in wily ways finds his foe in a saintly sage “Digambara Saamiyar”, who dons different disguises to expose the lawyer. After a lots of twists and turns, the sage triumphs against the evil.
The cast included D.Balasubramaniam as the evil lawyer, P. V. Narasimha Bharathi as his brother, Draupathi as Vadivambal and the talented M. N. Nambiar as Digambara Saamiyar. The movie was directed and produced by TR Sundaram for his Modern Theatres. The music was composed by
G. Ramanathan-S. M. Subbaiah Naidu with lyrics by Marudhakasi-Ka. Mu. Sherif- K. P. Kamakshi-Thanjai Ramaiah Das, and a relatively a newcomer by the name Kannadasan. The music was a run away hit although most of them were lift offs from Hindii movies ( I hope it rings some bell in your mind)

Why it’s so special?

1. Sivaji’s Navarathri act (9 Roles) and even Kamal’s Dasavatharam (10 Roles) are spoken as acting master pieces, what about MN Nambiar’s 9 roles in Dogambara Saamiyar. The only difference being all 9 are the same person and they are different people in the other two. But the 9 different roles of MN Nambiar are nothing short of greatness and he did them with such a panache, that he was equal to the other two if not better.

The 9 roles include a deaf magician, Arab businessman, saunf trader, nadaswara musician, a wealthy landlord, postman etc.,

2. TR Sundaram didn’t take a run of the mill masala movie without any logic. The whole movie was based on a investigation technique widely used – keeping a person sleepless for 3 days will make him confess all the truth ( remember the opening scene of “the lives of others”. Lalitha-Padmini duo’s dance sequence was used to keep Sattanadha sleepless for 3 days in the movie.

3. The movie was a complete package with rehashed songs, excellent star cast, deft screenplay, wonderful acting which made it as a complete entertainer.

Why it’s in the list?

1. Although there were a lot of pulp fiction movies, which made it to the silver screen, it was Digambara Saamiyar, which created the right space for such movies. It went on to become a fore runner to all those masala movies. The only problem is most of then have forgotten what TR Sundaram was well aware of “Entertainment Quotient”.

2. For MN Nambiar, known only for his villainy, he has not been given the right place as an actor. If you get a chance to watch this movie, you will know what I am speaking about. ( You may get a chance to watch it in Podhigai channel if you have luck)

Trivia

1. A graduate from London, smitten by the cinema bug TR Sundaram entered filmdom in 1933. He was a partner in Angel Film Company, Salem and produced 2 movies. In 1937, he started the Modern Theatres with the sole aim of entertaining people. The first movie was Sadhi Agalya. He was the first one to bring actresses from abroad and even made promotions with swimsuits as early as 1937. Modern Theatres became one of the prime movie production companies in Tamil. They brought in the professionalism in to movie production. Monthly Salaries, equality for actors with respect to treatment,high production values etc. Some of the famous movies include 1000 Thalai Vangiya Aboorva Chinrhamani, Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum, Vallavanaku Vallavan, CID Shankar ( a series of movies with Jai Shankar)

To know more about Modern Theatres, Check this link from The Hindu, A wonderful article by Randor Guy

2. MN Nambiar started his acting career in Nawab Rajamanickam’s Troupe at the age of 13. He became famous through his villainy portrayals opposite MG Ramachandran. His unique dialogue delivery has been his secret of success. A complete health conscious person,  i have heard him saying that he has never even taken a cup of milk in his life. He was a staunch Iyyappan follower and he made it to the temple for 65 consecutive years, hence he is called the “Maha Guruswamy”

3. I think Digambara Samiyar is a sect in Saivism. If anybody can more info on that, it would be great.

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The definition of Anti-Heroism has been misinterpreted in many places referring it to those lead characters which have some Grey shades too. But according to me and even movie analysts, anti-hero is the one differs from the normal notions of an hero. A hero in Tamil movies is usually physically smart, has sharp features, strong, intelligent, suave, stylish, compassionate, girls fall for him naturally and he never does a mistake. The norms were never broken and actors like MGR were very successful proponents of this model.

But every one of these norms were broken in to pieces when a great actor entered this movie world. His name was Nagesh and the movie was Server Sundaram.

Server Sundaram (1964)

Server Sundaram was only the 5th movie of Nagesh. He was just a budding actor with only one hit in Nenjil Oru Aalayam and that too as a comedian. Server Sundaram is an adaptation of the play by the same name written by K.Balachander ( he is going to come again and again in this list), produced by AVM Pictures with music by MS Viswanathan – Ramamoorthy and directed by Krishnan – Panju.

The story is about a young wanna be actor (Sundaram) who comes to Madras to make it big in movies and ends up in a restaurant as a waiter. He meets his friend in the same hotel and his friend paves a way for him to get a big break in movies. In between Sundaram falls in love with the daughter of the restaurant owner, he works for without knowing that she is the bride to be of his friend. Sundaram becomes a star believing that making himself rich and famous will help him to get her. But eventually comes to know about his friend’s love and sacrifices his love for his friend’s sake. Finally, his mother’s demise teaches him the reality of life.

The movie is said to be semi-autobiographical of Nagesh as it traces the life of an actor, his rise and fall.

What’s so special about it?

1. If there are 100 reasons for this movie to be special, all the 100 reasons would be Nagesh. He makes you to laugh, cry, sad, think, retrospect and share the character’s emotions. I have not known any other movie which can make a normal person to relate to a character so much. In one scene where he goes to the heroine to express his love with a bouquet and she rejects his proposal. He asks for a gift from her. She asks “what you want?” He says ” Nothing much, I just want the dust bin you have. Because my heart would pain if you throw my bouquet in to the dust bin”… Nagesh gives an helpless expression at that moment which no actor would have matched. He was special…

2. The perfect supporting cast with Muthuraman as his friend Raghavan and KR Vijaya. Major Sunder Rajan as his restaurant owner and above all SN Lakshmi as Nagesh’ mother made to look the mother-son relationship so believable.

3. The witty one line dialogues which were KB’s trademark made it’s way to the big screen. I think Krishnan-Panju would have made a record being the only directors to be part of a film which had longest monologues and also be a part of movie which had short oneliners ( I can’t say shortest because later came Mani Ratnam, whose dialogues were mostly single words)

4. The movie has scenes which gave the inside view of the cinema world. How do they make sets, rain sequences etc. It was said that few producers showed their concerns for showing the cinema secrets to AVM. But AVM went on to make these sequences, which gave great impetus to the success of the movie.

5. The songs and music composition were at it’s best. Kannadasan and MSV were at their peak form. Songs like Avalukku Yenna (it even shows the live recording of the song) are still considered to be classics.. People never knew Nagesh could dance so well.

Why it makes to the list?

1. The critics, some directors and movie buffs are talking about movies which depict the reality of life. But I think Server Sundaram started it all. It broke the norms of Tamil Movies. I bet there would be no producer to take such a movie at this moment and that too with a 4 movie old comedian in the lead.

2. It also paved the way for demise of long monologues (it made a comeback with actors like Vijayakanth !!). Short, witty, powerful one -liners became the order of the day.

3. It brought two of the greats in Tamil Cinema in forefront, KB & Nagesh. They went to make a lot of meaningful movies together. Nagesh was casted in almost all the movies after 1964. He became a must have in a movie. There were times were directors were forced to include characters which will suit Nagesh. KB of course became one of the prolific film makers of Tamil and introduced the 2 Superstars – Rajini & Kamal.

4. It gave the concept of Anti -Heroism to Tamil Cinema. It changed the way people look at heroes. They started to relate to Sundaram like characters more because he was like just another person on the road.

5. It’s a complete package of a movie with the right doses of romance, comedy, sentiments with excellent music and classic acting.

Trivia

1. Although the play was directed by KB, the producers AVM opted for their successful director duo Krishnan-Panju. KB later made couple of successful movies for AVM.

2. The sequences were Nagesh does mono acting with a coin on the road and pining for his lady love were influenced by Chaplin’s City Lights.

3. Krishnan – Panju the ever successful director duo made 55 Movies together which include blockbuster hits like Rattha Kaneer, Parasakthi, Kuzhandhiyum Deivamum, Uyarntha Manithan and of course Server Sundaram.

4. Server Sundaram was remade in Hindi with Mehmood in the lead by the same directors and AVM as Main Sundar Hoon in 1970. Although it was not a blockbuster hit, it was a decent hit in Hindi.

5. The first picture in this article was taken originally as a promo pic but there was no such scene in the original movie. After seeing the first copy, AV Meyyappa Chettiar insisted on such a scene to make the promo shots authentic. He was vehemently against making fake promo shots without having it in the movie. But this picture eventually became a classic  photo for Nagesh

PS 2: I wrote a Tribute to Nagesh on his demise earlier this year.. Someone who i admired, loved and shared few coincidents..

PS3: In final moment of the scene which i have posted above, Sundaram says  “Love is a game of chance, I lost it in the finals” ( Hail KB for the Dialogue) – I lost one in finals too…

– Post From My iPhone.

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I am travelling 10 years back to talk about a legend. I am reading some books on Tamil Movies in order to give some good triviae. One of them which I read recently was AVM – 60 years by M.Saravanan. Avichi Meyyappa Chettiar is a pioneer when it comes to movies in India. In fact, his family is the oldest movie making family in India. He started making movies in 1935 and established AVM studios in 1945. The truth is this is the third movie produced or co-produced by AVM in the list.

Comedy has always been successful when it comes to Tamil Movies but if you make it bad, you will become a comedy in front of the audience. One of the earliest full length comedy movie is the 6th movie in our list.

Sabapathy (1941)

Sabapathy is a comedy character developed by Pammal Sambanda Mudaliar based on Handy Andy comic character created by Samuel Lover in English literature. Sabapathy is innocent stupid servant of a not so intelligent boss of the same name. AT Krishnaswamy was a writer-producer who worked in the drama troupe and he gave an idea to AV Meyyappa Chettiar to create a moviec around this character. AVM had already given two consecutive flops and was brooding about whether to make a movie. He wanted to give a try to comedy movie and they both started working on the script.

The story is simple and ran around the boss-servant characters. The boss is a young man who has failed in the pre-university exams and his father is worried about his future. So he decides to do a marriage of his son and after marriage the husband-wife are kept separated. The movie continues with comic extravagances of the boss servant ending up in a happy climax.

AVM roped in TR Ramachandran, who was at a high salary bracket of Rs.35 with Pragati Pictures that time. Kali N.Ratnam did the role of servant Sabapathy. Padma and Rajakantham did the lady loves respectively. Sarangapani, one of the most sought after comedians of those times, did a important role of a Tamil Teacher, constantly ragged by his students.

Why it’s so special?

1. Most probably the first full length comedy of Tamil Cinema and definitely the first comedy to become a hit.

2.The hilarious pair of Kali N.Ratnam and TR Ramachandram was awesome. There are some comic scenes which are unforgettable – especially the scenes where he asks to bring soda, coffee etc.

3.The pitiest part is that these movie scenes have been repeated enormously in many other movies in different forms and ways. The ragging of the Tamil teacher and the boss-servant swap sequences while seeing the bride have been often repeated in many movies. It actually shows the versatility of the comedy scenes.

Why it makes to the list?

1. It proved that comedy can be a genre and eventually paved the way for lot other comic movies in Tamil Cinema.

2. TR Ramachandran and Kali N.Ratnam. I think they gave the red carpet to duo comedies of later years.

Trivia

1. The whole movie was made with a budget of Rs.40,000. It was a resounding success and made AVM to get in to regular movie making and eventually movie mogul.

2. TR Ramachandran became a super star and MGR (then in initial times) was calling himself MG Ramachandar to avoid confusion.

3. AVM’s name made it to the title card as a director along with AT Krishnaswamy for the first time.

PS: Although the movie is very old, it is still played in Tamil Channels sometimes. May be the current movie goers will find it little bit hard to comprehend with the slow pace and editing. But the movie is absolutely enjoyable.

– Post From My iPhone

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A few things before I go to the next movie.

1. Sorry for the infrequent posts and short hiatus, there are some DNS server problems with my blog. My hosting guy is working on it. I hope he gives me a good solution. And I lost two of the posts with my iPhone crash. I do my blogposts during my daily travel and my phone wonderfully crashed on Friday night and my backup is in Macbook, which is also not working currently. Aww, that’s life.

2. I hope some of my readers would be thinking why I am running around 50s and 60s in the movie list and not with the later years. The first set of movies (may be 15-16) will be till 1969, the next set will be from 1970 – 1989 and the last set will be 1990 – current running period. So wait for some more nice movies to come.

Now for the next movie in line.

Parasakthi (1952)

Krishnan – Panju, the most successful director duo have made some wonderful movies which are blockbuster hits and at the same time critically well received. But they were never spoken in the breadth of other famous directors of those times (like CV Sridhar). In fact, I have 3 of their movies in my list. The most obvious reason I could see is that the lead actors have become more famous than the director duo in those movies. If it was MR Radha in Rattha Kaneer, Parasakthi announced the arrival of greatest Tamil actor of all times, Sivaji Ganesan ( the third one is more prolific and loved of all the three according to me).

Parasakthi was one of the most controversial movies of those times. Those days were full of historical movies and commercial entertainers, even the elusive social genre movies had cliched characters and political correctness. Parasakthi was the first movie to break the shackles and tried to talk about social problems openly in main stream cinema.

The story had a backdrop of World War II. Three rich brothers from war torn Rangoon, travel to India to meet their widowed sister. Fate plays the game, separating the family. Gunasekaran, one of the brothers becomes a protector to his sister (Kalyani) without knowing the original identity while she is struggling to save herself and her child from hunger. All the men including a priest ask her body as a price for helping her. She gets dejected and eventually tries to kill herself with the child. All end up in court and the family is reunited.

Parasakthi was directed by Krishnan – Panju and produced by National Pictures. The music was composed by Sudarsanam and Maruthi Rao wielded the camera. The cast included Sivaji Ganesan, SS Rajendran, SV Sahasaranamam, Sri Ranjani and Pandari Bai. The most important of all which became the prime reason for success of the movie were the dialogues of the movie written by M.Karunanidhi ( the present CM of Tamil Nadu)

What so special about the movie?

1. The wonderfully written dialogues. Karunanidhi was part of the newly formed DMK party which had Dravidian ideologies in the roots. He used the characters of the movie as the mouth pieces of propagating dravidian thoughts. The movie had fiery monologues shunning the social problems of those times like casteism, cheating through religion, black marketing, poverty, women abuse and the rich-poor divide.

2. The acting and mainly the dialogue delivery of Sivaji. Nobody expected a new comer to perform so well and the long monologues were new to Tamil Cinema. He became a instant hit and the final court scene is still considered to be a master piece.

3. The wonderful performances of the supporting cast. Sri Ranjani, Pandari Bai, the evil priest and SS Rajendran especially were aptly casted characters.

Why it makes to the list?

1. The first movie to openly talk about the social problems and created a big impact showing that movies can be used as an social medium too ( and succeed in it).

2. The movie which brought the dialogue culture and showed the might of pen. The dialogues were so successful that the producers released Gramaphone records and books after the movie’s success. The dialogues were considered to be so provocative that there was a special censor board to censor the movie before release.

3. I have only one word for the third reason which will speak volumes – Sivaji

Trivia:

1. Although an old trivia – the name Sivaji was given by the Dravidian leader EVR Periyar after watching his portrayal of Maratha leader Sivaji, in a stage play.

2. Sri Ranjani or Sri Ranjani Jr was a Telegu actress who started her career in Bhishma in 1941. She made some memorable portrayals in Tamil including of forlorn wife of MR Radha in Rattha Kaneer. She also did the role of blind girl in the remake of City Lights – Raj en Kanmani. She passed away in 1970.

3. The songs of Parasakthi were based on some famous Hindi film songs of those times . Sudarsanam rehashed the tunes of Sunehre Din (1949), Babul (1950), Dopatta (1951) and even a Urdu song by legendary Ghulam Haidet from a Pakistani movie , Akeli (1952).

4. Although the movie was said to be produced by National Pictures, it’s a partnership production between AVM & National Pictures. AV Meyappa Chettiar, was involved in the script discussion and publicity of the movie. The movie was completely shot in the AVM Studios. A memorial has been erected for Sivajai in the AVM Studios, where he shot the first scene. The first dialogue he spoke was “Success”.

5. Incidentally, Sivaji’s grand son was launched as Junior Sivaji in a movie by the name ‘Success’. The movie was a disaster and of course the grand son too..

6. I will reserve the trivia about Krishnan-Panju for their next movie in the list.

– Post From My iPhone

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Madras to Pondicherry ( 1966)

Somehow if I take some cult classics of 50s and 60s, I always hit upon with the names of Krishnan-Panju… In fact two more movies in my list are directed by them. So I had made a small juggle in the list to avoid repetition.

When do you think the first road movie came in Tamil? Truly, there are only a handful of road movies of which only a few are hits.I could not even think of one now except for the latest Kadhalna Summa Illa.

A road movie is defined as a story which happens during a journey from one place to another. The best example would be Motorcycle Diaries, which tells the transformation of Che Guevara. But the first Tamil road movie is an absolute light hearted comedy entwined with a small mystery, Madras to Pondicherry and that too in 1966 !

The story moves along with the bus journey of a host of interesting characters from Madras to Pondicherry. An ever fighting couple with a son, who has an insatiable appetite for pakoras, a old lady with her grand daughter, a respectable family, a road side vendor, a snake charmer and above all the conductor – driver duo. But the main story revolves around a girl (Kalpana), who escapes from the clutches of two cheats and her love story with a young man in the bus (Ravichandran).She first escapes from her family, who wanted her to be married to their choice of groom and gets in to the hands of two cheats. They promise her to get a role for her in movies. Due to greed one (SV Ramadoss) of them kills the other. Kalpana becomes the witness to the murder and runs for her life, eventually ending up in the bus with others. The journey continues and all’s well that ends well…

..

What so special about the movie?

The excellent screenplay of the movie with every scene filled with comic moments and the interesting characters along with apt casting. Nagesh as the conductor and A.Karunanidhi (not our CM) as the driver are memorable. Karunanidhi was one of the underrated comedians, his expressions are simply superb in the movie.

Khader as the Pakora eating son, earned him the name “Pakora Khader” and Veerapan as his irritating father are excellent portrayals. Angamuthu as the road side vendor and her chicken becomes the reason one of the best slapstick comedy sequence. You should watch it to enjoy the fun.

The movie was directed by another director duo of Thirumalai-Mahalingam, produced by MS Adhi Narayanan of Sun Beam Productions and Music by TK Ramamoorthy. I think the dialogues should have been penned by Veerappan, a friend of Nagesh who wrote numerous comedy sequences for him.

Why it’s in the list?

Just because it was one of the pioneers in the genre.I have not seen a better road movie idea in Tamil for years. Even in Hindi, they have failed to impress (Daud, Honeymoon Travels, Road).

The critics of Tamil movies always maintained that there are no good representations of genres in Tamil. Madras to Pondicherry is one of those movies, which can be quoted as an instance of difference in Tamil movies. Although half of the movie was made inside the studio due to the technical limitations of those times, the movie has to be hailed for the thought process.

You will be startled to see most of the comic scenes being copied in different formats. Like the snake sequence, the chicken chase sequence and it’s pathetic to see how people are so shameless to copy.

Madras to Pondicherry, a must watch road movie and light hearted comedy.

Trivia

1. Madras to Pondicherry was remade in Hindi with Amitabh and Aruna Irani with Mehmood doing the Nagesh role. It was called Bombay to Goa and it was a super hit. It was said that Mehmood wanted Rajiv Gandhi to do the role of Amitabh.

2. Mehmood, a fan of Nagesh has done some memorable (some not so memorable) remakes of Nagesh movies in Hindi.(Lakhon Mein Ek – Ethir Neechal, Do Phool – Anubavi Raja Anubavi, Mein Sunder Hoon – Server Sundaram and the list goes on)

3. Veerappan continued to write comedy portions for the movies. In fact most of the comedy sequences of Goundamani-Senthil duo were written by him. Yes, you are right, the master piece Vazhappazha (Banana) comedy of Karagattakaran was written by him only.

4. Thirumalai-Mahalingam later went on to direct some successful comedies like Saadhu Mirandal and Soapu Seepu Kannadi with Nagesh.

5. TK Ramamoorthy later joined hands with MS Viswanathan and the as they say ‘the rest is history’. I could not plot the first movie which they were together. They were called as the “Mellisai Mannargal” (Melody Kings).

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